I’m down in Albuquerque, New Mexico visiting the set of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s untitled Gerard Butler sci-fi action film (which is going under the codename: Game). Lakeshore Entertainment producer David Rubin was able to reveal to me a few new details about the upcoming Crank sequel. If you don’t want to know any spoilers, stop right now and proceed no further.

The big question everyone wants answered is how does Jason Statham’s character survive for a sequel to be made. When I asked Brian this question at Comic Con he started telling me about this cool video he found on You Tube where a skydiver fell to earth unable to open his parachute. The real life video footage was shot from a helmet camera. The interesting thing about this video was the guy got up on his two feet and began walking immediately after the fall, working on pure adrenaline. Brian wouldn’t tell me how Chev Chelios survives, but would only remark about this viral video with a grin.

Producer David Rubin recalled shooting the last scene in Crank, how “we all laughed because ‘there would never be a sequel to this movie.'” He went on to say that that “the way they’ve answered it is really exciting and fun. It’s really funny and really clever.”

Recently Hollywood Reporter did a story about Statham returning for the sequel titled Crank 2: High Voltage, and even gave away a few plot details: “Chev faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered artificial ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working.”

When asked about the “robotic heart,” Rubin laughed and stated “It’s funny. I saw that published, and I just kind of chuckled. I don’t know if you would call it robotic. That was a real stretch.” So who knows what gimmick might be used . Rubin promises that we’ll be entertained by their answer.

“The guys are just so unique and their vision is just so specific to them that if you are excited about their vision than you’ll love the way they solve and answer that question.”

I also asked about rumors that other characters who died in the first film, making a return for the sequel. Rubin responded: “You never know with those guys. Are they really alive or are they not? And are they those people or are they related to them?”

As for new actors to join the mix, Rubin stated that “We have a lot of ideas right now about Crank 2 and a lot of really exciting stuff that the fans are really going to dig, and it’s just about a process of fantastic idea elimination. Just like this movie, the guys like to start with a lot of ideas and they’re constantly exploring them and taking them to their fullest potential and then seeing which ones are going to live.”

The screenplay has been finished for a while now, but Mark and Brian are still constantly incorporating new ideas.

“The great thing with Neveldine-Taylor is the smallest idea they might have some times that we think is not really that prominent, sometimes can sometimes blossom into this huge thing,” Rubin said. “And with ‘Crank 2’, those guys are making a lot of notes and the ideas are still percolating. The script is great but it’s interesting because there’s Neveldine-Taylor as a writing team and there’s Neveldine-Taylor the directing team and the transformation happens when we’re actually in our office prepping the movie and when… they become the directors of the movie, the ideas just transform and have a life of their own.”

Crank 2 will begin preparation early next year, only nine days after Game wraps principal photography. Production will begin in April 2008, hopefully in Los Angeles.